Why airlines keep pushing biofuels: They have no choiceAssociated Press NEW YORK — The number of global fliers is expected to more than double in the next two decades. In order to carry all those extra passengers, airlines are turning to a technology very few can make work on a large scale: converting trash into fuel. They have no other choice. As people in countries such as China, India and Indonesia get wealthier they are increasingly turning to air travel for vacation or business, creating an e...

Video: Traffic stop turns into confrontationAssociated Press HEMPSTEAD, Texas — A police dashboard video released Tuesday shows how a routine traffic stop escalated into a shouting confrontation between a Texas state trooper and a black woman who was later found dead in her jail cell. The video posted by the Texas Department of Public Safety shows the trooper stopping Sandra Bland, a 28-year-old Illinois woman, for failure to signal a lane change. After he hands her a written warning, t...

Bridge passed inspection, failed in flash floodAssociated Press DESERT CENTER, Calif. — The interstate bridge that washed out in the desert between Los Angeles and Phoenix easily withstood its daily load of thousands of cars and trucks, but the pounding of a powerful flash flood scoured away the land where the bridge was anchored, officials said Monday. The flood severed a highway vital to the movement of people and commerce between two of the nation’s largest cities. On an average day, th...

Lawyers may try to use Cosby’s own words against himAssociated Press Bill Cosby’s lurid, decade-old testimony about his philandering could do more than damage what’s left of his fatherly image — it could very well be used against him in court by some of the women who accuse him of sexual assault. Rocco Cipparone, a defense lawyer in New Jersey who is not connected to any of the legal action surrounding Cosby, said Monday that what the comedian said under oath could wind up hurting him in civil ...

Arkansas governor temporarily moves guard recruitersLITTLE ROCK — Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson is temporarily closing the state’s nine storefront National Guard recruitment centers as officials review their security following last week’s attacks on two military facilities in Tennessee. Hutchinson on Monday signed an executive order moving Guard members from the centers to their nearest armory or wing while Adjutant General Major General Mark Berry works on recommendations for improving security...

SpaceX says strut snapped, brought down rocketAssociated Press CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX suspects a 2-foot steel strut snapped inside its rocket and led to last month’s launch accident. The company’s founder and chief executive, Elon Musk, said Monday that these struts had flown many times before without any problem. But two minutes into the June 28 launch, one of the struts in the second stage of the unmanned Falcon 9 rocket likely broke loose. The strut was holding down a high-press...

Suspect in shooting of five showed no emotion at arrestBENEDICTA, Maine — The suspect in a criminal rampage across several northern Maine communities that left two people dead showed no emotion and revealed no clues about his motive when he was arrested, the suspect’s uncle said Saturday. Anthony Lord, 35, was arrested Friday after police say he beat a man, stole guns and a pickup truck, kidnapped a young woman and shot five people, killing two. Lord was taken into custody at the home of his uncle...

Rain calms wildfire that jumped freeway, burned carsLOS ANGELES — A fast-moving wildfire that swept across a packed California interstate, sending people running for their lives, was burning more calmly Saturday as rain fell and temperatures dropped. The fire had burned over Interstate 15 on Friday in Cajon Pass, a mountainous area 55 miles northeast of Los Angeles. It destroyed 20 vehicles on the freeway linking Southern California and Las Vegas before burning three homes and 44 more vehicles ...

Slain Marine served honorablyLITTLE ROCK — U.S. Senator John Boozman is remembering the service of a Marine with Arkansas ties killed this week in attacks on two military facilities in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Boozman said in a statement Saturday that Staff Sgt. David Wyatt served his country honorably and gave his life in defense of American freedom. The Republican lawmaker also says the country can’t forget that threats to America exist even away from combat zones. Wyatt...

Body of flood victim found in KentuckyOn the same day Kevin Johnson buried his mother, searchers found the body of his 34-year-old son who drowned while trying to save his grandmother from flash flooding that ravaged their tiny Appalachian community. Scott Johnson’s body was found near the cemetery where his grandmother was buried. Days of searching along a muddy, debris-strewn creek ended when Johnson’s body was located Friday evening in a pile of rubble pinned beneath a mobile h...

4 Marines and gunman die in attack on 2 military sites CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) — A gunman unleashed a barrage of fire at a recruiting center and another U.S. military site a few miles apart in Chattanooga on Thursday, killing at least four Marines before he was shot to death by police, and sending service members scrambling for cover as bullets smashed through the windows. Federal authorities said they were investigating the possibility it was an act of terrorism, but have no evidence yet that any...

Mayor: Police pursuing active shooter in Chattanooga, Tenn. CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) — The Chattanooga mayor says police are pursuing an active shooter after reports of a shooting at a military reserve center. Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke said at a news conference Thursday it was a horrific situation. He did not release any other details. The U.S. Navy said in a tweet that it was investigating a report of a shooting at a Navy recruiting building. Chattanooga State Community College said in a tweet and o...

Floods cause millions of dollars in damagesAssociated Press TEXARKANA — Recent floods caused more than $14 million in damages in a southwest Arkansas county, according to a report by county officials and the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service. Around half of the land in Little River County was flooded by nearby bodies of water, including the Red River, following severe weather in May and June, said the county’s emergency coordinator, Don Hale Jr. The report shows that...

Firm seeks more info, stalls funds for stateAssociated Press LITTLE ROCK — A telecommunications company wants more information before it submits paperwork that officials say has put a hold on more than $15 million in federal funding for Arkansas schools. CenturyLink officials question whether the state’s procurement process for school broadband upgrades complied with federal rules. Jeff Jones, CenturyLink’s market development manager, said it seeks additional information from the Federa...

Teen in good spirits after surviving plane crashAssociated Press SEATTLE — With her step-grandparents dead or dying in the burning wreckage of their small plane, 16-year-old Autumn Veatch needed to somehow find her way off the remote, thickly forested Washington state mountainside where they crashed Saturday afternoon. Bruised by the impact, singed by the fire, fearing an explosion and knowing she couldn’t help the other victims, the girl did what she could: She headed down the steep slope,...

Pluto flyby apparently successfulAssociated Press CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — In a day of both jubilation and tension, scientists anxiously waited Tuesday for NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft to send word across 3 billion miles and confirm it got humanity’s first up-close look at Pluto. All indications were that the craft successfully made its flyby, and a cheering, flag-waving celebration swept over the mission operations center in Maryland. But confirmation was not expected to rea...

Jurors consider Holmes’ sanityAssociated Press DENVER — They saw more than 1,500 photographs. They heard more than 250 witnesses. They listened to 10 psychiatrists. They handled three guns. Jurors in the Colorado theater shooting case will hear closing arguments and instructions from the judge this week. Then they’ll retreat into an oversized jury room — the only one in the courthouse that can hold all the evidence — to decide what of all this matters as they determine whe...

Pluto bigger than scientists thoughtCAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Little Pluto is a little bigger than anyone imagined. On the eve of NASA’s historic flyby of Pluto, scientists announced Monday the New Horizons spacecraft has nailed the size of the faraway icy world. Measurements by the spacecraft set to sweep past Pluto today indicate the radius of the dwarf planet spans 736 miles, plus or minus six miles. That’s 20 miles to 30 miles bigger than previous estimates. The diameter would ...

Threats force Satan statue unveiling to secret venueDETROIT — An 8½-foot-tall bronze monument featuring a goat-headed Satan will be unveiled at a secret, ticketed event in Detroit after the owner of a popular restaurant and entertainment complex backed out and opponents issued threats, organizers said. The 1½-ton Baphomet, which is backed by an inverted pentagram and flanked by statues of two young children gazing up at the creature, shows Satan with horns, hooves, wings and a beard. The Satani...